although this year marked what president obama declaredded as the 50th anniversary of the start of that war, it doesn't seem like the conflict started a half century ago, but the war is recent, kept alive by constant references with the result of hollywood films like the ones max lifted or national headlines eluding to comparison with the war in afghanistan, and, indeed, my own new york times op-ed called exploding myths about vietnam appeared last month. it's a shameless plug for an article i wrote. the vietnam war feels very present. this is not surprising. the war, arguably america's longest war, shook the foundations of society. it reached into nearly every american home through military service, through participation and protest movements b # and even through television sets as everyday citizens and their leaders debated the merits of u.s. intervention in the far off place in southeast asia. by the war's end, 56,000 american lives lost and the nation nearly torn us under. no wonder why it doesn't seem like ancient history. for me, as a vietnam-american, the feeling that the veal na